One Punch Man (Webcomic/Original) - Ch. 138

[Jordan90334264]

@sauruan So what would you like? Saitama constantly bumbling about everyday life while people die horribly and the world crashes down around him? Why do you think the entire story should be a comedy just because he's a comic character? The whole point of OPM is putting a children's superhero in a Dark Age setting full of angst about the decline of heroism/humanity in the face of unceasing evil. Inevitably, his idealism must crash against the reality of his world, like Don Quixote against a windmill.

 

[Sauruan]

@Jordan90334264 Unironically "you need a high IQ to understand OPM." Yeah, okay.

Since it's his IP at the end of the day, idc, all the power to him. But I think that a lot of readers and watchers who tuned in to see Saitama are kind of put off because he was the main 'fun factor' of the series, and without him there isn't much reason to watch. Genos is barely in as well, there are just too many characters and not enough reason to care about them.

And regardless of what people say and no matter how the story has evolved since then, Saitama IS the sole and defining reason why OPM got so popular at all. The art is mediocre, the dialogue is okay, but the idea of Saitama was so fantastic that everyone fell in love with the series solely because he was the focus point of the show. It's subsequent exploration in morality, philosophy (which to me is all just surface level stuff that has been crammed down our throats so many times in so many other mediums) and everything else was only made possible because everyone liked the funny bald guy with the killer right hook. And then they basically took him out of his own story for the sake of developing a way more generic and far less iconic story than the one OPM originally gave us. And I think that's pretty dumb. That is all.

 

[Jordan90334264]

@sauruan I'm not being condescending to anybody, I'm just pointing out what kind of story ONE is trying to tell. Also, I genuinely don't understand your self-contradiction by saying the dialogue is just 'okay' while claiming Saitama is the main reason people were attracted to OPM, because it's precisely the excellent writing that makes him a great character.

 

[uwubruh]

@sauruan I understand your issues concerning the series but I'm kind of curious at what point in the story you felt this way towards it. OPM has been like this for a long time in regards to the focus between Saitama and other characters, I'd argue for the majority of the series. Those lovable moments with Saitama's character that you're referring to mostly occur before and at the very end of a whatever conflict arises in the story, him being absent for most of it. This Neo-Hero arc that just kicked off does seem like it will result with a him being a bigger absence from the story (without comparing his screentime in the Monster Association arc) but I'd say he had plenty of focus in the smaller arcs right before this one. We had 2 goofy fights between him and the other S-Classes and plenty of humorous back and forths with other characters which lasted longer than his usual interactions in the story. And there is the amusing subplot of him becoming a leader of of his own association.

I'm not trying to convince you to go back to liking the series. I just don't think Saitama ever had much focus in the story to begin with and "they took him out of the story" feels like an exaggeration. His small role has always been to add comedic contrast to the story in between several scenes of fights and plot, his actions causing a narrative domino effect leading up to future events. We're seeing that here in this chapter as well, amid all the admittedly overwhelming walls of text. And like the series formula plays out, he'll eventually come back to forefront.

 

[Sauruan]

@uwubruh Makes sense. I thought around the time where the they assaulted the monster hideout was when it started focusing on minor characters way more than necessary to tell the story, but it was okay because they cut back to Saitama every couple of chapters. Then after we moved into the hero dorms we barely saw Saitama at all besides his fight with Tats. Yes, "took him out of the story" is an exaggeration, but you are allowed to do that provided everyone is on the same page in understanding it is an exaggeration.

Speaking of "walls of texts," I feel like I have written too many of my own, so I am gonna end it here.